Missing person: Four years later, no progress in kidnapping case

Issac Samson was kidnapped in 2012, police still have no idea where he is

KARACHI: Despite the passage of four years since a Christian employee of a South Korean charity hospital was kidnapped in Karachi, the case remains a mystery, with the police failing to rescue the victim or conduct any solid investigations.

On the morning of September 29, 2012, an accountant at the Good Samaritan Hospital, Issac Samson, along with another worker, Indrias Javed, were kidnapped by four armed men in Orangi.

The two men worked at the hospital which was being run by a South Korean NGO, Agape Medical Service. Days after their kidnapping, Javed escaped from the clutches of the kidnappers when they were travelling on the Northern Bypass, however Samson's whereabouts still remain unknown.

"The case remains today where it was four years ago. We still don't know who kidnapped my son," said Samson's father, Yunus Sadiq.

Since the kidnapping, police officers investigating the case have continuously been transferred, with approximately 16 investigation officers having been involved in the case. The FIR has been registered twice.

The last IO of the case, Inspector Nasir Ahmed Shaikh of the crime branch, who is currently on suspension, said that the case was a difficult one as there had been no ransom calls made by the kidnappers. There had been no contact at all.

"There are no clues, we can't find anything. A lot of men have been arrested from the area but we couldn't trace anything," he lamented.

Despite Javed having escaped the kidnappers, the police failed to locate who the kidnappers are. Javed has left the country.

Earlier this month, a Sindh High Court judge directed the additional IG to appoint a responsible officer as IO and adjourned the case till March 7.

On Monday, the family marked the unfortunate event by fasting. They later held special prayers at a church in Saddar for Samson.

"I keep on going to the police and the hospital, asking that if my son is alive, just asking them to tell me that. We live in that hope every day," said the heartbroken Sadiq.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 1^st, 2016.